An $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers has been extended to cover contracts signed by April 30, 2010. A real estate professor writes that those seemingly free dollars might not save you any actual cash, however.

Joseph Gyourko, chairman of the real estate department at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, runs the numbers on five myths of home ownership, including the standard "buying is always better than renting" argument that we've previously posted about (and considered as a calculator). About the tax credit that's regularly in the headlines, Gyourko suggests the savings may vanish quickly if you're buying in an area with a moderately competitive market:

Just because you got an $8,000 tax credit toward the purchase of a home doesn't mean that you actually saved $8,000. In areas where there is strong demand for housing and the supply of new housing is limited — including the Washington metro region — tax credits may result in the bidding up of home prices. In other words, the program has probably led to higher prices in these areas than we would be seeing without it. This means that some of the benefit of the tax credit is being passed on from homebuyers to home sellers.

Has the new buyer credit made you think twice about buying a home? Do you still consider home ownership a solid, if not exactly profitable, investment? Trade your takes in the comments.